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Arcane 05-11-2011 10:15 AM

One IBM PC needs ideas of use
 
Hi. Recently i got one old computer(someone wanted get rid of it) and can't decide what to do with it. I might experiment a bit with it on distro side but i was thinking if it could work as some kind of server or something else? Here is Everest report for system specs. Any thoughts?

wpeckham 05-11-2011 11:24 AM

One IBM PC
 
Assuming Ethernet adapters available: it might make a firewall, vpn client to connect your network to a remote site, small mail server, network music jukebox, static web page server, print server, ...

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The key here is that it will provide a decent platform for anything that does not require heavy lifting. If you want cutting-edge graphics or fast processing, this platform is not adequate.

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As a desktop machine it may serve: if you want to browse, do web based email, minor document editing, ... Again, things that allow you to use a much more conservative desktop than gnome or kde, and only at a relatively low resolution. For such use the speed may not impress, but it will get the job done. I bet it would run CrunchBang well. Heavier distributions should run (XP did), but the performance may not be what you are used to.

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You have a nice little platform there. Certainly not a high-end gaming machine, but a capable little desktop. While slower than the new machines, it does have some muscle and should be put to use.

jefro 05-11-2011 04:26 PM

Jim Dandy kids computer. Good kiosk computer. Anyone ought to be OK with that actually with a special distro. Your issue is lack of ram only.

Slitaz, austrumi, lubuntu maybe, antix and maybe vector and plenty more for that 256 m system.

Latios 05-13-2011 03:43 PM

And this might be the problem. Such systems often have 2 slots for RAM, and the most common stick is 128 M (256 and 512 exist but are rare)

I have used around 2005 - 2007 a Pentium 3 450 MHz @ 300 MHz (clocked down due to overheating) and 256 M SDRAM 100 MHz (clocked down along with the CPU), Gentoo linux, KDE 3.4.1. It worked pretty well. I would expect the box to run Trinity or LXDE (and hope that today's kernel and other distro basics are not more bloated than Gentoo 2005.1's)

BTW you can still install the exact same software I had back then. Google (or search P2P) for Gentoo 2005.1 universal install CD and package CD


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